Farm and co-op groups predict 8% drop in EU cereal harvest

The EU cereals harvest could fall 8% this year to almost 294m tonnes, says farm and co-op group Copa-Cogeca.

The CAP reform greening rules were mainly to blame for the fall, it said, which was based on an expected reduction in total cereal area of 3.6% and a yield drop of 4.5%.

The greening rules needed to be simplified and made more flexible for farmers to apply in order to be effective and to meet rising world food demand, said Max Schulman, chairman of the organisation’s cereals working group.

See also: High stocks and currency keep grain price down

“Farmers have been particularly careful this year to avoid the excessive cuts in their payments which apply when they make even a very slight, unintentional error in implementing the new rules,” he said.

There were also serious concerns among farmers and their co-ops about new EU rules governing futures markets (Mifid).

Unless the rules are clarified, farmers and co-operatives will be classified as financial operators despite the fact they are economic operators and deliver physical goods, warns Copa-Cogeca.

“Implementation of the Mifid II regulation would cause unnecessary red tape and regulation in their work simply due to misinterpretation of a European definition,” he warned. “This must be revised.”